Cleaning
by Netbug009
Summary: Spoilers for the movie. M-O knew every couple had this problem at some point, but it was still hard to believe. They wouldn't even look at each other. One shot.


I've been working on this for DAYS. When is the last time I wrote a one shot this long? Have I ever written anything this long without any dialog in it? It's for pixarplanetda's WEVE contest. I hope you enjoy! Critique is welcome!

I've been wanting to write something set after the movie since I saw it. This was fun, but also challenging. The ending was hard to do, and this is such a hard situation to write in general... I'm really worried I walked an OOC line with WALL-E. I hope not. What do you think?

So, M-O. Yeah. From the end of the movie, he seems to not be an idiot when it comes to romance, which is what got this fic off the ground. The little guy is so cute too. :D

WALL-E belongs to Pixar, which I am not affiliated with. I wish I wrote for them. XD

* * *

Cleaning

By Netbug009

The first fight; every couple has it. It doesn't matter how in love the two are or how well they click. At some point in their lives together, they are going to argue. M-O had heard that a little bit of this was a sign of a relationship being healthy and balanced.

But this seemed to go beyond the healthy mark.

He had come by WALL-E's truck at the worst possible time, right when the fight had started. He had no idea what they were fighting about, their exchange being one that only the other member of the relationship could even attempt to understand. Both of them looked angry, so the cleaning bot got out of there as fast as he could. Heck, EVE angry alone was enough to make any half-sane bot aside from WALL-E get a good mile or two away as soon as possible (though M-O wondered if WALL-E had any sanity when it involved EVE. Usually, the garbage bot probably would have jumped off a cliff if it would make her smile.)

The sun had risen and set 3 times since M-O's close encounter with a quasar ion canon, and nobody had seen the two heroes even look at one another the whole time. Of course, nobody was forcing WALL-E and EVE to have such a bad attitude towards one another, but neither of them seemed happy about the situation. Neither robot's eyes had gone into happy slits for 3 days either. They did, on the other hand, both look incredibly stubborn. Big surprise.

Like said before, M-O knew the "every couple fights" rule well but, even so, the whole mess was still so hard to believe. EVE and WALL-E having a little squabble? Yeah, it happened. EVE and WALL-E have a full out _fight?_ _What?_ He never thought he'd see the day.

Wait, why was he focusing on this? It was none of his business in the first place, really. How long could it last, anyway?

So he waited another day.

Two days.

Three days.

Four days.

Okay, that was it. They were both ten feet away from one another for crying out loud. Today, somebody lacking observational skills had decided to ask both robots to help tend the same field of Earth's healing vegetation. Watching them facing away from each other and trying to pretend the other robot wasn't all of 3.048 meters away, clearly melancholy over the entire situation, was just too pathetic. M-O scoffed and started emitting annoyed robotic tongue. He knew EVE was advanced enough to understand him, and WALL-E would at least get that he was there and he was aggravated, but neither even showed a sign of noticing him. They did notice him. He knew they did. They were stubborn as ever. He needed a plan B.

Let's see... plan B... hmm...

Yep, that was gonna be plan B. They'd asked for it. M-O hit his cleaning brush against the ground in annoyance before wheeling off.

About 20 minutes passed before the microbe obliterator returned with something and placed it on the ground facing the torn couple. If either had bothered to look, they would have recognized it as a crank radio from WALL-E's collection; the one with the tape player in it. As if carrying the thing wasn't awkward enough without hands, now he had to crank it. He wedged his cleaning brush into the crank and started turning it the best he could. This took another 10 minutes of work. Finally, it was charged, and he pressed the play button, incredibly thankful it was already on the track he needed.

"It Only Takes a Moment" from the musical _Hello, Dolly!_

The moment the music started playing, both WALL-E and EVE froze. Everything seemed to freeze at that moment but the song. Then, they turned from their work and looked at each other for the first time in a week.

Another pause before they put down their gardening tools and began moving towards one another awkwardly. Did _they_ even know why they were fighting? They both stared at one another, into the other's eyes, their expressions sad and guilty looking. The later emotion overcame them and they turned away from one another, staring at the floor.

Another long moment passed.

WALL-E took EVE's hand.

The scout robot's eyes grew wide and she slowly turned to WALL-E, who was still looking away from her nervously. EVE's expression changed again to a loving one, and she turned the bottom of her wing into a hand, intertwining her fingers with his. He finally turned to her and they locked their other hands, gazing into one another's eyes. EVE laughed, and WALL-E joined in, and they just stayed there, giggling. Giggling and pressing their heads together, only stopping their laughter for a moment to let a spark pass between them.

M-O's work was done. He left the two alone and thought about the events of the past week. Maybe there was a good reason for every couple having a first fight. It gave them something to overcome together. Yeah, right, like they hadn't already done that enough. The realization that it had taken less time for them to save the world than to make up made him chuckle.

So, was a second fight mandatory too, or was it safe for him to be near the truck again now?


End file.
